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Canton, OH – The Clinton Massie Falcons overcame a 28-7 second half deficit to shock the Ursuline Fighting Irish 29-28 and capture the Division IV State Championship. It was a thrilling finish that saw a fourth and goal converted and then a two-point conversion to top everything off.
The Falcons never abandoned the run despite being down big and it paid off. Colton Trampler ran it 19 times for 117 yards. Carson Van Hoose ran it 15 times for 104 yards and a score. Quarterback Kody Zantene ran it 7 times for 91 yards including a 49-yard touchdown, and then the game winning touchdown as well. Carter Frank carried it 9 times for 42 yards.
The Ursuline Fighting Irish were led by DeMarcus McElroy who had 162 yards on 26 carries with two touchdowns. Quarterback Brady Shannon had a nice effort with 185 passing yards and 2 touchdowns on 15 of 28 passing. His top targets were Dean Boyd with 6 catches for 69 yards and Jakylan Irving with 3 catches for 72 yards.
Clinton Massie started with the ball and put together a 16 play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Every single play was a run and it took almost 10 minutes off the clock. Quarterback Kody Zantene had one run for 26 on the drive, but the bulk of the carries went to starting tailback Carson Vanhoose who touted the rock 7 times, including the 4-yard touchdown run on fourth down and goal.
Early second quarter, the Fighting Irish put together a nice 65-yard drive on the arm of Brady Shannon who had nice connections with Dean Boyd of 20 and Will Burney of 10 to set up shop. Demarcus McElroy would finish things off with a tremendous 34 yad run to the outside to score and tie the game at 7 with 7:43 to go in the first half.
The Fighting Irish, brimming with confidence and momentum, went with a surprise onside kick, and got it! They wasted no time marching the ball down the field and scoring again with a DeMarcus McElroy rumble. They then went for a surprise two pointer and converted that as well. Just like that, they led 15-7 with 4:50 to go in the first half.
The Fighting Irish forced a three and out of Massie and took over again near midfield. This time it was a quick strike as Brady Shannon hit a 39-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Jakylan Irving to extend the lead to 21-7 with 1:53 left in the half.
Down 21-7 to start the second half, the Falcons needed a break and got one by recovering a Fighting Irish fumble at midfield. They couldn’t make anything of it however, and the turnover didn’t result in any points.
The Fighting Irish appeared to end all doubt the next time they had the ball. They decided to go for it on fourth and long from the Massie 26-yard line and it proved to be a genius call. Shannon dropped back and hit a streaking Dean Boyd over the middle for a touchdown. This touchdown strike would extend the lead to 28-7 with 5:23 to go in the third.
Clinton Massie quickly reminded everyone why they were playing for a state Championship the very next time they touched the ball. Kody Zantene cut to the outside and just sped down the field blowing past tacklers on his way to a 49-yard touchdown sprint. This cut the lead to 28-14 with 3:48 to go in the third. The quarter would end with that same margin.
The next time the Falcons had it to open the fourth quarter, still down 28-14, they stuck to their running game and it continued to work. A 39-yard run by Carson Vanhoose put them inside the Ursuline 8 yard line. A few plays later they punched it in and it was suddenly 28-21 as they moved 90 yards in 5 plays to cut the lead to 28-21 with 10:17 left in the game. The comeback story was well underway.
14 straight points put all the momentum with Clinton Massie and the Fighting Irish badly needed to answer. They couldn’t as Clinton Massie forced another three and out. This gave the ball back to Clinton Massie with over 7 minutes left on the clock, and starting from their own 27.
For the Falcons, they stuck to their bread and butter and began to run the ball down the field. A few plays into the drive, they were already in Ursuline territory. A few plays later, redzone as the Fighting Irish simply couldn’t stop the running attack. They got all the way down to the 1-yard line on fourth down. The call was for a quarterback bootleg that led to a wide open touchdown run for Kody Zantene with no one near him to make it 28-27 with 45 seconds to go.
The drama would intensify from there as Clinton Massie decided to go for two and the win. The gamble paid off as Carson Vanhoose rolled to the outside and went in untouched to put them ahead 29-28.
Both press conferences can be found on page two.
